


The Potters v The Longbottoms: A Family Fued

by GryffindorTom



Series: The Potters v The Longbottoms [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-07-12 12:45:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7104004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GryffindorTom/pseuds/GryffindorTom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam Potter is happy with his girlfriend, Hermione Granger. His brother Harry Potter is in a happy relationship with his girlfriend, Daphne Greengrass. Both of them, however, hold a secret which not even their girlfriends know...Adam is the real Boy-Who-Lived...not Neville Longbottom!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01 – Prologue – The Halloween of 1981

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [The Potters](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/203860) by zaterra02. 



> The Potters v The Longbottoms – Rating M  
> Summary – Adam Potter is happy with his girlfriend, Hermione Granger. His brother Harry Potter is in a happy relationship with his girlfriend, Daphne Greengrass. Both of them, however, hold a secret which not even their girlfriends know...Adam is the real Boy-Who-Lived...not Neville Longbottom!  
> Pairings – Harry/Daphne, OC/Hermione, James/Lily  
> Warnings – Contains Weasley, Fudge, Dumbledore and Longbottom bashing. Contains occasional instances of swearing, sexual hints and a character death throughout. May also contain scenes some readers may find disturbing. For the purposes of this story, Harry is 3 years older then canon.

** Longbottom Manor, Chorley, Lancashire, England **

** 31st October 1981 **

Frank and Alice Longbottom were sitting in the dining room at Longbottom Manor, hosting a dinner party with their friends and colleagues from the Auror Department. Present with them were James Potter and his wife Lily, Rufus Scrimgeour and his wife Agnes, Sirius Black, Alastor ‘Mad-eye' Moody and Gawain Robards, head of the squad that Frank and Alice were part of. The children of James and Lily were in the bedroom of Frank and Alice's son, Neville, being babysat by Frank's mother, Augusta Longbottom. Suddenly Frank felt a shiver from nowhere.

“What's wrong dear?” Alice asked her husband, “Is there anything wrong?”

“It's the wards Alice. I've just felt them shift like an attack is going to take place shortly.” Frank replied, standing up.

Suddenly a bang occurred, causing Scrimgeour and his wife to fall onto the floor. James, Lily, Sirius, Moody and Robards stood up, pulling their wands out of their robes. They were ready to fight.

The invading Death Eaters, led by their leader, Lord Voldemort, blasted through the wards, giving them access to Longbottom Manor. ‘Childs play these wards are, managing to blast through them.' Lord Voldemort's second-in-command, Bellatrix Lestrange, thought, smiling at her cousin, Sirius Black, who was holding his wand menacingly at her.

Voldemort barked orders at the Death Eaters, commanding them to fight whilst he headed upstairs.

-Potters v Longbottoms-

“Harry, stay there and don't make a sound, all right?” Augusta Longbottom said, making sure that her great-nephew complied. Harry nodded, signifying his understanding of her order.

Augusta went between the cot with the babies and the door. No sound was in the corridor heard until a blast opened the door, throwing parts of it through the room. Augusta lost her balance and fell, only to be greeted by a cold and evil laugh.

“Good evening Madam Longbottom,” the arrival to the room said, “It's funny how you are the one to keep the children safe. An old witch against the likes of me, it's hardly a fair fight.”

 

Augusta pulled her wand from her robes, pointing it at the man. “Get out from here!” Augusta snapped, pointing her wand at him. “Leave these children alone.”

“You think you have the right to order me, Lord Voldemort, around,” he snarled, pointing his wand back at her. “Looks like there's only one way to deal with irritants like you. _Avada_ _Kedava_!” He flicked his wand and a green light crossed the distance between him and the older women, causing her to fall wide eyed and dead on the floor.

Voldemort laughed and approached the babies who were crying. Sounds of battle could be heard below. "Adam Potter and Neville Longbottom. Now which one do I pick?” Voldemort said to himself, “I do believe the one mentioned in the prophecy to be Adam Potter, the one with black hair, according with Wormtail. Yes…I shall kill Adam Potter!”

“Leave my brother alone!” shouted a scared voice. Harry stood, pointing Augusta's wand at Voldemort. He tried to remember what the Dark Lord cast against Augusta, but when he said it, it came out as Abracadabra! It didn't matter anyway as a green light came out of the wand. Voldemort jumped backwards, avoiding the curse. Little did Harry suspect that he had actually cast a Killing Curse against Voldemort, and had it hit its target, Voldemort would have been reduced to a wraith. Harry pointed the wand again at Voldemort, thinking of trying the same thing again, however, due to a silent disarming spell, the wand jumped from Harry's hand.

Voldemort pointed his wand at Harry, spiralling it. “ _Crucio”_ Voldemort incanted, causing Harry to cry in pain. The Dark lord held the Cruciartus Curse on Harry for several seconds. After stopping, the dark lord pinned Harry to the wall and approached him. “Who are you, boy?” he asked. Harry was in pain and scared but still he faced the dark lord who wanted to hurt his brother.

“Harry Potter.” he replied, trying to hide his fear. Voldemort laughed at him then became serious.

“Well met, Harry Potter, My name is Lord Voldemort,” the Dark Lord replied, a smile forming on his face, “Now, the first thing I'm going to do is kill your little brother, Adam Potter. Then I'm going to kill the Longbottom boy. After that, I'm going to kill you.” Voldemort turned his back on Harry and pointed his wand at Adam.

“ADAM!” shouted Harry in tears. ‘ _Must protect Adam. Must stop bad man’_

“HA'II!” replied baby Adam, his very first words, his brother's name. Harry's body glowed golden, as of his wish of stopping Voldemort was going to come true, even if the Dark Lord did not realise it.

Augusta's body glowed the same golden colour as Harry's just as Voldemort incanted the killing curse. “ _Avada Kedava_!” he shouted in victory, flicking his wand, aiming at Adam's forehead.

Adam's body glowed golden as the killing curse struck him, creating a lightning shaped scar, then rebounded off him. Voldemort wasn't able to dodge the rebounded curse and was hit fully in the chest. He cried in pain, fury and agony and his body was consumed by a golden light, leaving only the robes.

The cot legs snapped and the bed fell. Luckily the both Adam and Neville were safe and fine. Because of the collapse, debris hit Neville, forming a ‘S’ shaped cut in Neville's forehead. Both one year olds were crying, with Adam also sobbing his brother's name.

“Ha'ii.” Adam shouted to his brother. Harry fell on the floor exhausted and dragged himself to his brother, in order to hug him. Eventually he reached his brother, hugging him. Whilst he was hugging Adam, Harry fell unconscious.

After the battle downstairs ended, James ran to the nursery, running over to hold Harry as Lily was checking Adam next to them. Frank and Alice came in behind them to see how their son was. Frank looked however, and saw his mother was dead. He fell onto the floor next to her body and started crying.

Harry woke up and saw James. “Daddy?” asked Harry, afraid because of what had happened.

“Dear Merlin, Harry, your fine!” shouted James, holding hugging his son. James was worn out because of the battle downstairs, where he had fought, and killed, Bellatrix Lestrange. Lily scooped Adam up from the cot and took him over to Harry.

“My baby boys.” Lily cried, hugging him too with Adam, who was crying at her arms.

“Harry, my dear boy. Can you tell us what happened here?” asked a voice behind them, the clear voice of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizmanagot and Supreme Mugwump of the ICW. Harry didn't let go of Lily and sobbed in her shoulder.

“Harry, answer the headmaster, ok?” asked Lily. Harry looked at his father, then at Lily and at Adam.

‘ _The bad man came here to kill Adam.’_ thought Harry, _‘Daddy said to protect Adam, my little brother, at any cost.’_ Harry came out of his thoughts, and avoiding Dumbledore’s twinkling eyes, decided to lie to the old man “I..I don't know, sir. The evil man entered and said he came for Neville. Auntie 'gusta pointed the wand at me, making me tired. I just woke up now.” It was an awful lie, Harry knew, but it was necessary to protect Adam, His mommy always told him he shouldn't lie, but he had to.

“Ah, I see what has happened.” said Dumbledore, sighing with regret, “Neville’s magic is very strong, whereas both Harry’s and Adam's are not. For this reason, and this reason alone, I believe Neville is the one of the prophecy I told you and it was Neville that vanquished the Dark Lord.” Dumbledore waved his wand around, trying to detect something. “From my detection charms, it seems that there are traces of the Killing Curse in the room. Somehow, Neville seems to have survived theKilling Curse. This is truly a miracle.”

James and Lily looked at Harry and saw him scowl. They look at Dumbledore, to whom Harry was looking and they saw the reason. Dumbledore had a strange glint in his eyes. _‘I need to protect Adam_ ,’ was Harry's last thought before he succumbed to the effects of magical exhaustion. ‘ _Anything for Adam_ ’


	2. 02 - Sorting Adam

** The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry **

** 1st September 1991 **

The interceding years between the fateful Halloween and the year of Neville and Adams sorting were interesting for the two families. Because of Harry lying to Albus Dumbledore to protect his brother, Adam, and the declaration by Dumbledore of Neville Longbottom being the Boy-Who-Lived, the Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Longbottom, Lord Frank Longbottom, started a campaign to get his son awarded an Order of Merlin for the death of Lord Voldemort.

This, along with lack of oversight after the death of Augusta Longbottom by the Dark Lord, led to Frank and Alice Longbottom spoiling their son, meaning that he ended up becoming conceited and spoilt.

James Potter, as Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter, upon finding out about how his friend and cousin was treating his son, immediately ended the Longbottom/Potter Alliance, one that had lasted since Ralston Potter was the Lord Potter. This, in June 1987, led to James, along with friend Sirius Black, being slowly edged out of the Auror Department, who was under the leadership of Frank Longbottom.

This caused a feud, when two months later, the Ancient and Most Noble House of Longbottom was forced out of the Great Alliance, a political group that worked within the Wizengamot, by the Ancient and Noble Houses of Boot, Lovegood and Zabini, along with the Ancient and Most Noble Houses of Black, Bones and Potter.

In January 1990, the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter announced their movement in the Wizengamot from the Light Alliance to the Neutral Alliance, which also coincided with the Ancient and Most Noble House of Greengrass coming into the Great Alliance, signifying a aim that was in 'Grand Plan' that Henry Potter, the grandfather of James Potter, made during his time in the Wizengamot in the early 1900s.

On the Hogwarts Express, Harry and Adam spent most of the journey sitting together when Neville, along with his friend and 'bodyguard', Ron Weasley, interrupted them, resulting in Harry's girlfriend, Daphne Greengrass, placing a Bat Bogey Hex on Neville in order to encourage him to ‘move along’.

The first years had got the boats from the Hogwarts Express at Hogsmeade station to the end of the lake nearest the Entrance Hall. After a lecture from Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, she led the first years into the Great Hall, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Adam Potter looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars.

He heard a girl who had introduced herself as Hermione Granger whisper to him, “It’s bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History.” It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn’t simply open on to the heavens.

Adam quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard’s hat. This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. He looked over to the Slytherin table to see his brother, Harry, smile at him. Everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth — and the hat began to sing:

 

“ _Oh, you may not think I’m pretty,_

_But don’t judge on what you see,_

_I’ll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I’m the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There’s nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can’t see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave at heart,_

_Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you’ve a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You’ll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don’t be afraid!_

_And don’t get in a flap!_

_You’re in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I’m a Thinking Cap!”_

Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"  
A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the Hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment’s pause then "HUFFLEPUFF!" the Hat shouted.

"Bones, Susan!" The Hat didn’t even give it a second before it declared "HUFFLEPUFF!” Susan scuttled off to sit next to her friend, Hannah.

After a few more names and people were sorted, Professor McGonagall called for "Granger, Hermione!" Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Ron groaned at that, muttering about a nightmare and her being a Mudblood. After a few more names, Professor McGonagall called for "Longbottom, Neville!"

As Neville stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.

"Longbottom, did she say?”

"The Neville Longbottom?"

“Oh how I wished I was dating him!”

The last thing Neville saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited and waited. Eventually it shouted “GRYFFINDOR!"

Neville heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Longbottom! We got Longbottom!" Neville sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Neville a sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.

Eventually, after the Patil twins, Padma and Parvati, it was time for Adam to be sorted. He looked to the Slytherin table, seeing his brother sit up, paying attention to him. Once Adam reached the stool, the Hat was placed upon him. Without even a second passing, the Hat shouted “GRYFFINDOR!"

Adam headed over to the Gryffindor table when he heard clapping come from behind him. He looked and saw that it was coming, initially from his brother, Harry, and Harry’s girlfriend Daphne, followed by the majority of Slytherin House, then from members of the other three houses. He sat next to a boy named Seamus Finnegan, a boy who told Adam he was from Ireland.

-Potters v Longbottoms-

 _‘It will not be long now until the Kitten is a resident in the Lions Den_ ’ Harry thought, smiling at his girlfriend. “Adam looks like he is going to end up in Gryffindor House, does he not my dear Daphne?” he asked her, hoping he would be right.

“Indeed he is my lovely” Daphne said, holding her boyfriends arm. “I think he will have an interesting seven years in the Lions Den, especially as we know for a fact that Slytherin wont bother him.”

When Draco Malfoy came to be sorted, Daphne frowned. “I’ve got a feeling that the blonde git is going to try and be a pain in the arse if he comes here,” she said, wishing that the Sorting Hat would sort him somewhere apart from Slytherin. Her wish, unfortunately, did not become true as Malfoy joined the Snake Pit.

Eventually it was time for the Sorting of his brother, Adam. Harry sat up, showing interest in the sorting that was taking place. Eventually, after a few minutes, the Sorting Hat declared that Adam would head to Gryffindor. Harry stood up, Daphne following him, applauding his brother as not many other people were. A few seconds later, following an unspoken command, the remainder of Slytherin House, apart from Malfoy, stood up applauding the younger Potter. The rest of the houses immediately followed the Slytherin lead.

Harry smiled at himself. He huddled closer to Daphne and whispered in her ear. “Game, set and match. It looks like we are the students to respect in the Pit from now on.’

-Potters v Longbottoms-

Hermione Granger was confused. She had attempted to seek out Neville Longbottom; the person who her books said was the Boy-Who-Lived. She found him on the train; only to find out he was, in her opinion, an obnoxious git. ‘ _Clearly the fame of being the Boy-Who-Lived has gone to his head._ ’ Hermione thought when she had seen him.

On the other hand she saw a different boy, whilst waiting for the boats to arrive, with brown eyes and a messy, albeit not too messy, black hair. He had helped her onto the nearest boat, which he shared with her.

She was sat at the Gryffindor table, watching the Sorting, when she saw the obnoxious Longbottom boy being called by Professor McGonagall. She was disappointed when the Sorting Hat placed him in Gryffindor.

The next person to be sorted was a blonde haired boy who she had encountered on the Hogwarts Express. Draco Malfoy his name was, and she was upset as when she had met him, he called her a ‘Mudblood’. It was only because of a Fifth Year named Penelope Clearwater explaining what it was when Hermione was upset.

When Adam Potter's name was called, silence fell in the Great Hall, although not much as when Neville Longbottom's name was called. There was a certain apprehension in the air and Hermione Granger noticed that two students in the Slytherin table were smiling, as if Adam was bound to go there.

After a while, the hat shouted Gryffindor and silence was absolute, with no one clapping. Hermione could swear she saw Adam looking disappointed but then, the clapping started and Hermione saw a boy, looking a bit like Adam and a beautiful girl standing from the Slytherin table and clapping. The Slytherins followed their example, as did the rest of the houses and Adam smiled, going to the Gryffindor table.

Hermione thought it strange but paid no mind to it. After the Sorting was complete, the Headmaster declared the feast open. Once the meal was complete he made a few announcements, including a ban on using the Third Floor corridor on the right. Once the announcements were completed, he sent the students off to their dormitories.

In the Slytherin Common Room, Professor Snape was lecturing the new batch of First Year students on acceptable behaviour that they had to comply with outside the common room. The new First Years took note, especially when Harry and Daphne walked through the Common Room. They all noted the Second, Third, Forth and even Fifth Years yielded to the couple. They all know who the Slytherin ‘Power Couple’ were and who they had to respect.

In the Gryffindor male First Year dormitory, Adam pulled his charmed notebook from his rucksack, checking if there were any messages for him from his parents, James and Lily, his younger sister, Rose, or even his brother, Harry. Seeing no messages, he sent a quick one to his parents saying he was a Gryffindor House student. Seven years of being a lion is going to be interesting.


	3. 03 - The Stone

** Third Floor Corridor, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland **

** 20th December 1991 **

The two brothers had come a long way since the Sorting Ceremony in which Adam was placed in Gryffindor. Despite the interruptions that Adam suffered from, thanks to Neville Longbottom and his ‘bodyguard’, Ron Weasley.

Adam had a quiet few months, albeit the events of Halloween. Adam had been in Charms class, sitting next to his friend, Hermione Granger, when she attempted to assist Ron Weasley in doing the _‘Wingardium Leviosa_ ’ spell. Weasley insulted her, behind her back, claiming that she was a nightmare.

Because of that, and the bullying coming from Weasley and Longbottom, caused Hermione to spend the day hiding in the girls lavatory. Adam went to her and tried to talk her to come back into the Great Hall, in order to eat, and spend some time with Harry and his girlfriend, Daphne Greengrass. Instead, a troll came into the bathroom, which Adam defeated. Because of this, and how they were getting along with each other, Adam started to have a crush on the bushy haired girl, with her doing the same back.

Harry and Adam were on a mission to collect the Philosophers Stone, as they had suspicions that Professor Quirrel was after it. They had met up outside the Room of Requirements, which Harry had found when he stole the Marauders Map from the office of Mr Filch back in his Second Year. They had headed to the Third Floor Corridor where they suspected the stone would be.

Seeing the door, Adam and Harry knew what was facing them. They pushed it open when they heard low, rumbling growls coming from behind it. They saw three noses sniffing madly in their direction, even though it couldn't see them because of the nasal obstruction.

Conjuring a flute, Harry placed it to his lips so he could blow a tune. From the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased. Sinking on its paws, it fell to its knees, slumping to the ground, fast asleep.

"Keep playing," Adam warned his older brother, creeping towards the trap door. They could feel the dog's hot, smelly breath as they approached the giant heads.

"I think we'll be able to pull the door open," Harry said, peering over the dog's back. "Want to go first little bro?"

"All right." Adam gritted his teeth and stepped carefully over the dog's legs. He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung up and open.

"What can you see?" Harry said anxiously.

"Nothing -- just black -- there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop." Adam replied. "I don't know how deep this thing goes.” In the few seconds where there was no music, the dog growled and twitched. Harry noticed it and began to play again, sending the three headed dog back into its deep sleep.

Adam lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips and, after a minute, let go. Cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down. Eventually, with a funny, muffled sort of thump he landed on something soft. He sat up and felt around, his eyes not used to the gloom. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant.

"It's okay!" he called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the open trapdoor, "it's a soft landing, you can jump!"

Harry followed right away. He landed, sprawled next to Adam.

"What's this stuff?" Adam asked his brother, confused.

"Devil's Snare!” Harry replied. “I'm trying to remember how to kill it”

He had to struggle because the moment he had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around his ankles. As for Adam, his legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing.

Harry had managed to free himself before the plant got a firm grip on her. Now she watched in horror as Adam fought to pull the plant off himself, but the more he strained against it, the tighter and faster the plant wound around him.

"Devil's Snare, Devil's Snare, It likes the dark and the damp, so light a fire!" Harry choked as he whipped out his wand, waving it.

Muttering something, he sent a jet of blue flames around the plant. After a matter of seconds, the two boys felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unraveled itself from their bodies, and they were able to pull free.

"This way," said Harry, pointing down a stone passageway, which was the only way forward. All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls. The passageway sloped downward, and Harry was reminded of Gringotts. With an unpleasant jolt of the heart, he remembered the dragons said to be guarding vaults in the wizards' bank.

"Can you hear something?" Adam whispered.

Harry listened. A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead. "Do you think it's a ghost?"

"I don't know... sounds like wings to me."

"There's light ahead -- I can see something moving."

They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.

Heading to the door, Harry found himself under constant attack. ‘ _It feels like they are stabbing me, the sharpness of these things.’_ Eventually he reached the other end of the room, and the door. He tried to pull the handle, but it was locked

His brother followed him to the door, getting attacked by the winged ‘birds’. They tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when Adam tried the Alohomora charm.

"Now what? These birds... they can't be here just for decoration," Adam replied. They watched the birds soaring overhead, glittering -- glittering?

"They're not birds!" Harry said, noticing the shape of them. "They're winged keys. If you look carefully, we have got to catch the key to the door!"

"But there are hundreds of them!" Adam said, the lock on the door.

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one -- probably silver, like the handle." Harry replied.

The two of them seized a broomstick and kicked off into the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. Adam grabbed and snatched, but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one.

Not for nothing, though, was his brother, Harry, the youngest Slytherin Seeker in a century. He had a knack for spotting things other people didn't. After a minute's weaving about through the whirl of rainbow feathers, he noticed a large silver key that had a bent wing, as if it had already been caught before it was let loose initially.

"That one!" he called to the Adam. "That big one -- there -- no, there -- with bright blue wings -- the feathers are all crumpled on one side." Adam went speeding in the direction that Harry was pointing, crashed into the ceiling, and nearly fell off his broom.

"We've got to close in on it!" Harry called, not taking his eyes off the key with the damaged wing. "Adam, stay below and stop it from going down and I'll try and catch it. Right, NOW!"

Eventually the pair of them managed to get it. They landed quickly, and Harry ran to the door, the key struggling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned -- it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.

"Ready?" Harry asked his younger brother, his hand on the door handle. They nodded. He pulled the door open.

The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. Harry and Adam shivered slightly -- the towering white chessmen had no faces.

"Now what do we do?" Adam whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" his brother replied, smiling. "We've got to play our way across the room." Behind the white pieces they could see another door. "I think we are going to have to be chessmen."

Adam walked up to a black knight and put his hand out to touch the knight's horse. At once, the stone sprang to life. The horse pawed the ground and the knight turned his helmeted head to look down at Adam.

"Do we -- er -- have to join you to get across the board?" The black knight nodded. Adam turned to his brother. "This needs thinking about. I suppose we've got to take the place of two of the black pieces...."

Harry stayed quiet, watching Adam think. Finally he said, "Now, don't be offended or anything, but neither of you are that good at chess --"

"No offence little brother," said Harry quickly. "Just tell me what to do."

"Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to be a castle!” Adam said, relying on his superior chess skills. The chessmen seemed to have been listening, because at these words a bishop and a castle turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board, leaving two empty squares that Harry and Adam took.

"White always plays first in chess," said Adam, peering across the board. "Yes... look..."

A white pawn had moved forward two squares. Adam started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them. Harry's knees were trembling. What if they lost?

"Harry -- move diagonally four squares to the right."

Their first real shock came when their other knight was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he lay quite still, facedown.

"Had to let that happen," said Adam, looking shaken. "Leaves you free to take that bishop, Harry, go on."

Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Twice, Adam only just noticed in time that his brother was in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones.

"We're nearly there," he muttered suddenly. He turned to Harry, voicing his thoughts out loud. "Let me think let me think...lose the knight and then you can take the king!"

The white queen turned her blank face toward it. The knight stepped forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck it hard across the head with her stone arm, and it crashed to the floor, the Queen dragging it to one side.

Shaking, Harry moved three spaces to the left. The white king took off his crown and threw it at his feet. They had won.

The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. With one last desperate look back at the board, the two brothers charged through the door and up the next passageway.

“What do you think is next?" Adam asked, hoping it won’t be long until they get the stone, intending to protect it from Voldemort. "We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare; Flitwick must've put a charm on the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves just Snape's item left to do."

They had reached another door, to which Harry pushed it open. Both of them hardly dared to look at what came next - but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.

"Snape's," said Adam. "What do we have to do?"

They stepped over the threshold, and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped.

"Look!" Harry seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Adam looked over the shoulder of his brother to read it:

‘ _Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind. Two of us will help you, which ever you would find, one among us seven will let you move ahead,_

_Another will transport the drinker back instead two among our number hold only nettle wine, three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line._

_Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore, to help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_

_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide, you will always find some on nettle wine's left side; second, different are those who stand at either end, but if you would move onward, neither is your friend; third, as you see clearly, all are different size, neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides; fourth, the second left and the second on the right are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight, smiling, the very last thing he felt like doing._ ’

"Brilliant," Harry said. "This isn't magic -- it's logic -- a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

"But so will we, won't we?"

"Of course not. Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple."

"But how do we know which to drink?"

"Give me a minute."

Harry read the paper several times. Then he walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them. At last, he clapped his hands.

"Got it," he said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire -- toward the Stone." Adam looked at the tiny bottle.

"There's only enough there for one of us at a time," Adam told his older brother. "That's hardly one swallow."

Harry took a deep breath and picked up the smallest bottle. He turned to face the black flames. "Here I come," he said, and he drained the little bottle in one gulp.

It was indeed as though ice was flooding his body. He put the bottle down and walked forward; he braced himself, saw the black flames licking his body, but couldn't feel them -- for a moment he could see nothing but dark fire -- then he was on the other side, in the last chamber. Adam followed the procedure a minute later, noticing that the bottle had refilled itself.

"Now, wait quietly, Adam. I need to work out what important about this mirror.” It was only then that Adam realized what was standing behind his older brother. It was the Mirror of Erised.

"The mirror is the key to finding the Stone," he murmured, tapping his way around the frame. "Trust Dumbledore to come up with something like this. He tries to stop people stealing it, so he puts Stone inside the mirror?”

Adam saw his reflection, pale at first. But a moment later, the reflection smiled at him. It put its hand into its pocket and pulled out a blood-red stone.

The reflection winked and put the Stone back in its pocket. While it did so, Adam felt something heavy drop into his real pocket. Somehow he had gotten the Stone. As he moved aside, he felt the Stone, rubbing against his leg.

“You have to want it but not use it big brother!” Adam said, smirking at the way Harry had tried to work it out his way. “Now let's get out of here!”

Between the two brothers, they had done it, they were able to protect the stone. Now to send it somewhere safe!


	4. 04 – The Great Alliance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Potters v The Longbottoms – Rating M  
> Chapter 04 – The Great Alliance  
> Warnings – Contains Weasley, Fudge, Dumbledore and Longbottom bashing. Contains occasional instances of swearing, sexual hints and a character death throughout. May also contain scenes some readers may find disturbing. For the purposes of this story, Harry is 3 years older than canon.
> 
> A/N – Following a rejigging on my chapter manifest, I decided to put this chapter, along with a couple of other chapters first. Also, the updates to this story will be few and far in between as I have been busy with other commitments, plus some challenge fics that I have been writing between my other stories.

**Wizengamot Chambers, Ministry of Magic, London, England**

**20** **th** **December 1991**

James Potter was sitting in the rows of the Great Alliance section of the Wizengamot chambers, dying of boredom. Ever since his grandfather died two years ago, he had been responsible for the Potter seat on the Wizengamot.

Normally his father, Fleamont, would have sat on the Wizengamot following the death of Henry Potter, but Fleamont had died three months before his sister, Augusta. Instead of Augusta's fate of being murdered by Death Eaters, Fleamont and his wife, Euphemia, passed away because of a strain of Dragon Pox affecting them.

Listening to several ancient witches and wizards moan about cauldron bottom thickness was taking its toll on James, who was trying his best not to tear his hair out. Feigning interest, he looked at the seven government officials who each had a singular vote given to them because of their occupations, and sighed.

Out of the seven officials, James knew that he could name four of them that held the true positions of power in their departments. Siting in the seat for the Minister of Magic was the newly elected Cornelius Fudge, formerly of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Sitting next to him was the new Head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Christopher Bones, the younger brother of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones.

James remembered that Amelia was the former girlfriend of his best friend, Sirius Black, before he had married his current wife, Andrea (Jameson), and had his daughter who was the same age as his own, Rose. James remembered how Amelia and Sirius had a massive argument over how she was letting Frank Longbottom effectively run her department, thinking he had the power as he was the father of the 'Boy-Who-Lived', despite James, his wife Lily and his oldest child Harry knowing different.

Sitting next to the Bones siblings was Barty Crouch Senor, the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, the brother of Fleamont Potters first wife, Maria Crouch, who died suddenly a few weeks after their wedding of a tumour.

After listening to the Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore, try and persuade the leader of the Dark Alliance, Lucius Malfoy, and Amelia Bones to stop their spontaneous argument about how the Dark Mark works, one which had been on and off arguing over the past few years, ever since the excuse that Malfoy was under the Imperius Curse.

James tried hard not to laugh how his sons had described the blonde ponce's son, Draco. According to Adam, Harry had already knocked the junior Malfoy down a few pegs in the standings within Slytherin House, an audience in the Slytherin Common Room watching as Harry cut off any kind of influence that the Malfoy scion had tried to garner within it.

James laughed at how Harry had described how the ponce had constantly said how "his father would hear about this" to anyone and everyone within earshot. James could never work out who was the more vicious in their punishment against their enemies, Harry or Adam.

The head of the Department of Mysteries, Algeron Croaker, the brother-in-law of his late Uncle, stood up representing the last of the last of the Ancient House of Croaker, interrupting Dumbledore and his peacekeeping attempts, in order to try and motion for a debate on the Dark Mark, only to find himself being hit by a silencing spell by the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Delores Umbridge.

James saw Sirius, out of the corner of his eye, cast a non-verbal spell at the cardigan wearing Undersecretary, turning her into a pink toad, to the amusement of the Great Alliance.

"Order! Order!" Fudge shouted, trying to regain some normality in the Wizengamot. He turned to his undersecretary, who was trying to turn herself back human, and cast a spell at her.

' _That livened up the Wizengamot meeting!'_ James thought as he fell asleep, thinking about how the meeting he had with his cousin had went prior to his leaving of the Auror Department.

**Greengrass Manor, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England**

**14** **th** **June 1987**

Frank Longbottom was pacing the Drawing Room at Greengrass Manor, the ancestral home of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Greengrass. It had been a few weeks since the first in a series of arguments between James Potter and the Head Auror, Frank Longbottom, following revelations by Henry Potter and his grandson that they were planning to add additional members of the Wizengamot to the Great Alliance, starting with the Ancient and Most Noble House of Greengrass.

Suddenly James Potter and Cygnus Greengrass walked into the Drawing Room, laughing and joking and immediately Frank looked as if something was wrong. ' _Potter and Greengrass laughing together. I thought the Potters would go for someone light like the Weasleys, not those Dark Slytherins._ '

"Hello Frank." James said, smiling at his cousin. "How's Alice and Neville?"

"James, Greengrass, pleasure of always," Frank said, barely hiding his disgust at seeing Cygnus Greengrass being friendly with James. "How is the Mrs?"

"Longbottom." Cygnus Greengrass nodded. "She's fine thanks, she is looking forward to Daphne getting her letter in the next few days for Hogwarts. That and the betrothal that we are negotiating."

"Yeah, Harry and Daphne will make a brilliant couple." James said. "She just like Lily, clever, a short temper for Potter men, and will look as good as her mother when she gets older."

"WHAT! A POTTER MARRYING A SNAKE!" Frank shouted. "MOTHER WOULD BE SPINNING IN HER GRAVE IF SHE HEARD ABOUT THAT!"

"Well I will have you know our Aunt Dorea was a member of Slytherin House and you had no problem with her as a child. Hell, Aunt Augusta raised you to be better than this!" James said. "You're getting as bad as Weasley in your prejudice of Slytherins."

"Better than having your eldest colluding with a snake." Frank said. "Hell, your 'best friend' was from a Slytherin family, and that Pettigrew's mother was a Slytherin."

"Fuck you Longbottom." James said, getting angry. "You know that Sirius does not get along with his family, especially as he married a Muggleborn!"

"So? Maybe he did it to throw you off the scent." Frank said.

"He did not." James said, "Now are you going to going to stop trying to push us out of the Auror Department, or do I have to speak to Amelia?"

"Fuck you Potter." Frank said, looking at the younger man. "Ever since my Neville was almost murdered by Voldemort, and survived the Killing Curse, you have been jealous. Hell, you can kiss your job goodbye at this rate!"

"Fine. You can call the Longbottom-Potter Alliance null and void." James said, smiling. "And you can forget the Great Alliance. They have a meeting soon and you are the subject of it. You and your family's expulsion."

**Wizengamot Chambers, Ministry of Magic, London, England**

**20** **th** **December 1991**

James woke up to realise the Wizengamot meeting was ending. Looking to his fellow members of the Great Alliance, he knew that something was going to be mentioned about how the meeting had progressed when they adjourned to the annual Great Alliance Christmas meal, this year being hosted the Ancient and Most Noble House of Greengrass.

As James smiled at his best friend, he noticed that his cousin was looking at him from over in the Light Alliance stands. James headed over to see what Frank wanted, only to be greeted by a fist hitting him.

"What the fuck was that for Frank?" James asked, shocked at why Frank had hit him.

"Your fucking sons terrorising my Neville!" Frank spat. "Tell them that if they carry on, I will get the Board of Governors to expel them."

"No you won't, because I am on the Board, and if Adam and Harry are expelled, I will expel your son quicker than you can cast a Stunner." James said, hitting the older man. "And by the way, I wanted to tell you, I will not be subjecting my daughter to your son, so you can stick that betrothal offer up your arse!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming Up in Chapter 05 – Christmas at the Potters, Easter at the Longbottoms
> 
> Disclaimer  
> This story uses themes and characters from the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, whose rights as author are respected.
> 
> Just like "GryffindorTom" on Facebook to get all of the latest news, bits I'm working on, story updates and much more. Please remember to review this story as it helps improve the stories that I write for you guys. It's the only payment, along with adding to community's and favourites that I get for writing these, and I admit I enjoy that payment.
> 
> Chapter Publish Date - 25/09/2016


	5. 05 - Christmas Tricks and Treats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Potters v The Longbottoms – Rating M  
> Chapter 05 – Christmas Treats and Tricks  
> Chapter Warnings – Contains Weasley, Fudge, Dumbledore and Longbottom bashing. Contains occasional instances of swearing, sexual hints and a character death throughout. May also contain scenes some readers may find disturbing. For the purposes of this story, Harry is 3 years older than canon.

**Potter Manor, Castle Donninton, Derbyshire, England**

**25th December 1991**

Harry Potter was fast asleep, not surprising as he had not gotten home the previous night from Club W, the teen wizard friendly dance club that his father had opened in Diagon Alley. He, along with his betrothed, Daphne Greengrass, along with their childhood friend Nymphadora Tonks, had gone to a concert at Club W. The concert they had gone to see was a teen band of Ilvermorny students who called themselves the Bent Winged Snitches, a band who were using the Christmas break at Ilvermorny to tour Europe.

As he turned in his bed, his body still resting from the previous evening, he was suddenly attacked by a red-haired missile.

"Rose Lily Potter!" Harry snarled, being forced to wake up even though he didn't want to be woken up. "I was sleeping then you little horror!"

"It's Christmas!" the excited nine-year-old said, jumping up and down on Harry's four poster bed. "Come on Harry, its Christmas! Come and get your presents!"

Harry looked at the Muggle alarm clock that his mother had brought him several years ago and groaned upon seeing that it was only 7 o'clock in the morning.

"Rose…why don't you Floo over to Uncle Padfoot's place and wake him and the rest of the Blacks up?" Harry suggested, hoping his sister would do so, leaving him to have some extra sleep.

A few minutes later, Rose left him, heading to the lounge to Floo to Number 12, Grimmauld Place, the home of the current Lord Back, his wife, Andrea, and only child, Cassie Black, allowing Harry to get his extra sleep.

The extra sleep didn't last for long, however, as his mother, Lily Potter, walked into his bedroom, her face dangerously angry.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Lily shouted, annoyed with her oldest son. "HOW DARE YOU SEND ROSE THROUGH THE FLOO ON HER OWN! SHE MAY HAVE ONLY VISITED THE BLACKS BUT THAT DOES NOT MATTER. ONE MORE STUNT LIKE THAT AND I WILL TELL LORD GREENGRASS TO STOP DAPHNE FROM COMING OVER HERE TODAY!"

Before Harry could respond to his mother and her shouting, Lily left the room, muttering about inconsiderate children under her breath, her husband and his best friend entering Harry's room behind her.

"Looks like you have caught the tail end of a Lily Evans storm!" Sirius said, smiling at his godson, trying hard not to fall into laughter. "I remember the first time I made Lily annoyed with me. It was at the Yule Ball that we were attending in our first year.

"I tried to persuade your father, who was nervous at the time as the only Yule Ball that he had attended beforehand was with your grandfather, to ask Lily Evans to the Ball." Sirius said, looking at his godson in admiration. "The only thing is that your father was an immature git, just like I was, and he had pranked Lily and her date, Snivellus the day before."

"I still have the bruises from that!" James said, frowning at the memory. "It didn't help that you filled me full of Firewhiskey and Lily's reaction made me piss myself!"

The two Marauders eventually left Harry to get dressed, intent on pranking Adam and Rose.

**Greengrass Manor, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England**

**25** **th** **December 1991**

Daphne Greengrass was happy. She was going to spend the day having fun at Potter Manor with her betrothed, Harry Potter, the 'King of Slytherin' (herself being the 'Queen of Slytherin' according to the Silver Trio of Command, the three people in control of internal Slytherin house) and his family.

She knew that Harry was knackered. Hell, Daphne knew that she was herself, especially after last night, not getting home until late thanks to the trip to Club W to see the Bent Winged Snitches in concert.

Applying a small amount of makeup to her face, intent on looking good yet practical for her betrothed, and headed downstairs, intent on using the Floo connection to Potter Manor. Just as she was about to grab a handful of Floo Powder, she heard a shout from upstairs.

"Daphne! Can you come up here a minute?" her sister, Astoria, shouted.

Daphne huffed at the sound of her sister, especially as she wanted to get to Potter Manor early as she knew Harry would be in bed, so she wanted to surprise him, but instead, her sister decided to ruin her plans. Heading upstairs, she swore that her sister had better not get into Ravenclaw next year with her friend, Luna, otherwise Daphne knew that she would prank the hell out of her!

Arriving in her sister's room, Daphne could see her sister was having problems with the zip on her dress. Getting Astoria to get the dress off, Daphne saw that the zip had got stuck in the material, meaning that she would have ripped it had she persisted.

"Where was you heading Sis?" Astoria asked as Daphne managed to get the zip unstuck. "I thought that we were all going to Potter Manor at the same time."

"No Stori, Father gave me permission last week so I could go over to Potter Manor earlier that the rest of the family so I could talk to Lady Potter about something in the betrothal contract." Daphne said, partially lying, hoping that her sister would not pick up on the falsehoods.

Daphne finished helping her sister with the zip and, seeing the time, headed downstairs to get the Floo to Potter Manor.

**Granger Household, Alcester, Warwickshire, England**

**25** **th** **December 1991**

"Are you sure that your friend has invited you to his house?" Jonas Granger, a dentist and father of Hermione Granger, asked. "I mean, they are wizards honey."

"Yes daddy, they did invite me. Lord Potter even told me that he had spoken to Mr Johnson," Hermione said, trying to get her father to remember. "You know Mr Johnson, the butcher, his wife and daughter are both witches, Angelina being on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Anyway, I promised Adam that I would keep him up to date with some research that I have done for him."

Jonas stopped for a few moments to allow him to think. "You know that your sister will be quite annoyed that you get to go out today and she doesn't." he said, getting up from reading his morning newspaper. "Juliette is already jealous that you are at Hogwarts and that she won't be able to go until you are in your fifth year."

As soon as Jonas mentioned the name of his youngest daughter, he heard her run down the stairs, followed by his wife Sophia, Juliette in a winding up Hermione mood.

"Hermione and Adam sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Juliette chanted, noticing her sister blush.

"Juliette! I am not in love with Adam." Hermione said, her face red as a traffic light. "I...I mean...he is kind of cute...and if he looks like his brother does in a few years then...grr Jules, you...you cow!"

As Hermione left the room, Juliette blew a raspberry at the bushy haired Gryffindor, who was not noticing as she grabbed the book from the table which she wanted to show Adam, leaving the house to head to a Floo point.

**Longbottom Hall, Chorley, Lancashire, England**

**25** **th** **December 1991**

Frank Longbottom was sitting in the lounge of his ancestral home, Longbottom Hall, deep in contemplation. For Frank, it was the tenth Christmas since his mother had died, ten years since what had effectively became a feud between his cousin, James Potter, and himself starting in earnest.

In his hands was a package that had been delivered to him by his former Headmaster and Chief Warlock, Albus Dumbledore, a parcel which was intended for his son, the Boy-Who-Lived, Neville.

In that package was an heirloom from his mother's side of the family, an heirloom that Frank knew would cause an even bigger falling out between him and his cousin then what had already happened between them.

Knowing that he would be disturbed by his wife shortly who would want him to collect his son from The Burrow, where he had given Neville permission to stop over with his friend, Ron Weasley, and the Weasley family, he grabbed the shot glass of Firewhiskey that he had been nursing over the last hour, downing it.

As much as Frank would admit it, he was glad his son was sorted into Gryffindor as opposed to Neville's maternal great-grandfathers house of Slytherin. Frank knew that his son had no ounce of ambition or cunning, merely a habit of boasting about his achievements.

Sighing, Frank knew that he needed to get his son some training for the future as, like his mentor, Dumbledore, Frank believed that Lord Voldemort, or as the majority of the Wizarding public would call He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, was not dead, especially as no body was found when his mother was killed. He knew that both Dumbledore and Voldemort took some stack in the prophecy, one which Neville was to defeat the Dark Lord.

Little would Frank expect that someone else knew where the package was, and that the father of the True Boy-Who-Lived was anticipating his next move.

**Potter Manor, Castle Donnington, Derbyshire, England**

**25th December 1991**

James Potter was smiling to himself. He had checked the widget that he had placed to check a tracking charm that he had applied to his families Invisibility Cloak.

He remembered how, before that fateful night of the death of his aunt, Augusta Longbottom, Albus Dumbledore had tried to persuade him to study the Potter family cloak, allowing him to make some investigations to a theory he had that the cloak was a Deathly Hallow.

In fact, per the Potter Family Grimoire, the legend of the Deathly Hallows were a falsehood set up by his ancestor, Ignatius Peverell, one of the three brothers mentioned in the Tales of Beedle the Bard, a story written by the Squib playwright, William Shakespeare, using a pseudonym that he had created for his Wizarding writings.

James knew from his readings of the Family Grimoire that in fact, out of the three mentioned in the Bard's story, the only living person that was out of the 'Three Brothers' was Nicolas Flamel, a gentleman who James's father Fleamont, and his ancestor Ignatius, had met, Ignatius being Flamel's best friend and co-creator for the three true Deathly Hallows, the Cloak of Invisibility, the Stone of Immortality and the Wand of Death, made by his ancestor, Flamel and their friend, Alphard Evans respectively, Evans being the ancestor of his wife, Lily.

In a way James was relieved that the Hallow that his wife held was safe in the Evans family vault that Lily found out about when she became of age.

Watching his wife and his younger son, Adam, who was deep in study with Hermione Granger, reading about Flamel and his achievements. He was also watching his oldest child, Harry, playing tonsil tennis with his betrothed, Daphne Greengrass, and his daughter, Rose, who was playing exploding snap with Cassie Black, the daughter of his best friend, Sirius Black.

James was surprised at how Lily had reacted to the betrothal agreement that he had created between Harry and Daphne all those years ago, especially as he had told Lily the day before he got married how he was betrothed to someone else for a time, thanks to his Uncle Charlus and his hatred of Muggleborns, but because of a Death Eater attack, both Charlus Potter and Amanda Prewitt, the cousin of Molly Weasley, were both killed. James, however, knew about the betrothal in his Sixth Year, the year that James grew up and stopped pursing Lily.

The thing that swung the betrothal in favour of acceptance though, was that James knew that Harry was already friends with Daphne, having gone to the same Muggle School as the oldest Greengrass daughter had. He knew that, having the betrothal in place, it also had the effect of removing them both from the market, in Harry's case, the offers that Pascal Parkinson made for his daughter, and in Daphne's case, the offers by Theodore Nott and Lucius Malfoy made for their sons.

'Ah well,' James thought as he headed to the Christmas tree to sort out the presents, and then later help Harry in his Animagus training. 'At least I can safely say that my children are well.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Coming Up in Chapter 06 - A Time Skip as we head to summer…and a visit to the Longbottoms…  
> Disclaimer  
> I don't own the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter is the property of JK Rowling, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.  
> Any text used from the Harry Potter series is used under the fair use allowances of various copyright acts.  
> This story is based on and uses text from The Potters by zaterra02b. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only. Any text by zaterra02b used under the fair use allowances of various copyright acts.  
> The Great Alliance is based on an idea by Vance McGill  
> Social Media  
> You can now like "GryffindorTom" on Facebook and Twitter to get all the latest news, bits I'm working on, story updates and much more. You can also discuss this story and much, much more on Reddit - just navigate to r/GryffindorTomOfficial on there.  
> Reviews  
> Please remember to review this story as it helps improve the stories that I write for you guys. It's the only payment, along with adding to community's and favourites that I get for writing these, and I admit I enjoy that payment.  
> Chapter Publish Date - 28/10/2016


	6. 06 - Caught in the Act

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written with trial use of a Necromantic Dictation system provided by the Dark Lord!

_**Potions Classroom, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland** _

_**3rd March 1992** _

Head of Slytherin and Potions Master, Severus Tobias Snape was in a bad mood. The reason for his bad mood was simple, his godson, Draco Malfoy, had decided to start a fight against the dunderheads known as the Gryffindor first years in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, causing Adam Potter, the brother of Snape's top forth year, Harry, and so called Boy-Who-Lived, Neville Longbottom, to fall onto the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirinus Quirrell. What made it worse was that Quirrell ended up crawling from his classroom into his office, where he promptly expired

Snape had no doubt that, because of their Longbottom brat, his colleague with now dead. What was worse that he knew he would have to report to the Headmaster about this circumstances of the death, and the fact that the Dark Lord had been possessing the Professor, meaning he was still alive.

If he was honest with himself, Snape was completely scared. He was scared because that he had been the one to tell the Dark Lord part of a prophecy which predicted the death of the Dark Lord, having heard Albus Dumbledore being given it by Sybil Trelawney.

Drinking a glass of Firewhiskey, Snape knew that he would have to, as head of Slytherin, tell the Headmaster, and he knew that the Headmaster knew that he wanted the Defence Against the Dark Arts role, but he knew he would not get the cover job!

_**First Year Boys Dorm, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland** _

_**6th March 1992** _

Adam Potter was no fool, even though he was a first-year Gryffindor. He knew when a plan you could possibly fail. The potential problem was a piece of parchment, one that he or his brother would get caught if the Weasley twins, who used it, noticed anything abnormal happening on it. Adam knew it was the Marauders Map, but didn't want to blow his cover, being a son of a Marauder.

Adam knew that Harry had the skill, cunning and tenacity to hide in the Gryffindor common room and do it under everybody's noses, but he didn't want is older brother to get caught, or worse expelled. There again Adam himself was scared, especially after that chaotic Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson where he and Longbottom were knocked into Professor Quirrell, resulting in the professor not being seen again by any of the staff or pupils!

Adam knew that there was something wrong about Professor Quirrell, however instead of acting like a normal Gryffindor and speaking to the Headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore, about it, Adam decided instead to use a mirror that his father had invented along with his Godfather to discuss this with both James and Harry. In fact, Adam remembered what his brother told him about the situation. "Keep working on your meditation and your Occlumency shields as I would be able to explain it better to you."

Adam knew that his brother has finished his Occlumency and meditation training as he was now learning to become an animagus, under the tutelage of Sirius Black and James Potter. Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Adam set up on his bed pushing the quilt off him intending to follow up the plan that'd be made between the two brothers.

' _I need to get Dad's invisibility cloak without Longbottom seeing me do it'_ Adam thought as he saw Neville turn over. Suddenly Adam got his chance when Neville's grip loosened on the cloak, allowing it to fall onto the floor, meaning that Adam could creep over from his bed and grab it.

Pulling his mirror from his pockets, Adam contacted his brother who was waiting for the all clear to reveal himself in the lion's den, a place that the older Slytherin knew was out of bounds

' _That will teach you, Longbottom.'_ Adam thought, smiling at the potential sight of a frantic Neville Longbottom in the morning when he finds out that his cloak is missing.

_**Broom Closet outside Slytherin Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland** _

_**12th May 1992** _

Daphne Greengrass was in an orgasmic bliss. She had just had the best moment of her life, all thanks to her betrothed, Harry Potter, using the abilities of Parseltongue on her to make her squirt her juices all over him.

"Never had you down as a squirter!" Harry said, casting a spell to make Daphne's pubic hair return to normal from the snake shape that he had charmed it to, making her orgasm to a Parseltongue rendition of a History of Magic lesson.

Harry remembered that it had only been by chance that he had found out about his Parseltongue abilities because of a visit that he and his siblings had gone on with his parents to a zoo in Greater Whinging, as his mother has wanted to see her sister, Petunia Dursley.

The only reason Harry knew about his Parseltongue abilities in the first place was because he, along with Adam, had accidentally set a snake on their uncle, Vernon Dursley, who was coincidentally visiting the zoo with his son Dudley, the cousin of Harry, Adam and Rose, as a birthday treat.

As Daphne helped her betrothed to his feet, the door to the broom closet opened, revealing two figures in the doorway.

"Weasley, Clearwater," Daphne growled, completely annoyed that she has not been able to return the favour that Harry had given her. He straightened her blouse, buttoning it up, covering her exposed breasts, unaware that Percy Weasley was getting an eyeful of them.

It was fortunate, however, that Harry had seen the male prefect from Gryffindor looking at his girlfriend and was slowly pulling out his wand when he saw Daphne slap the red head. It was then when the female prefect, Ravenclaw Penelope Clearwater, slapped Daphne for no reason at all.

"That's it!" Percy said, rubbing his face from where Daphne had made the, in his mind, unprovoked attack on him. "Potter, Greengrass, two weeks' detention with Mr Filch, along with 50 points off from Slytherin."

Harry smiled when the pompous redhead said that as he knew that his Head of House would never sign off on Percy's demand for detention with Filch, just as much as he knew that if he mentioned it to the Sixth-Year prefect in Slytherin, Marcus Flint, a certain pair of Gryffindor twins would find themselves being framed for a prank on the professors, resulting in them losing more points than he and Daphne had, along with a Molly Weasley special.

When Percy and Penelope dragged Harry and Daphne to the office of Professor Snape, Snape would end up dismissing the non-Slytherin couple and say one thing to Harry and Daphne.

"Next time, don't get caught!"

_**Longbottom Manor, Chorley, Lancashire, England** _

_**16th August 1992** _

Neville was sitting on his bed, contemplating his lot in life following the verbal strip down that his father had given him for losing the invisibility cloak when he returned from Hogwarts. It was made worse when suddenly a creature that Neville knew to be a House Elf apparated into the room.

"Neville Longbottom!" said the Elf in a high-pitched voice Neville was sure would carry down the stairs, knowing that his father was entertaining some members of the Alliance he was in in the Wizengamot. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir…Such an honour it is…"

"Th-thank you," said Neville, quickly getting off the bed, edging along the wall and sinking into his desk chair "Who are you?"

"Dobby, sir. Just Dobby." He said, getting closer to Neville.

"Oh — really?" said Neville, hearing the high, false laugh of a member of the Wizengamot from the drawing room below. "Erm — I don't want to be rude or anything, but — this isn't a great time for me to have a house-elf in my bedroom." The elf hung his head.

"Not that I'm not pleased to meet you," said Neville quickly, "but is there any particular reason you're here?"

"Oh, yes, sir," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you, sir…it is difficult, sir…Dobby wonders where to begin…"

"Sit down," said Neville politely, pointing at the bed. To his horror, the elf burst into tears — very noisy tears.

"S-sit down!" he wailed. "Never…never ever…" Neville thought he heard the voices downstairs falter.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything—"

"Offend Dobby!" choked the elf. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard — like an equal —"

Neville, trying to say "Shhh!" and look comforting at the same time, ushered Dobby back onto the bed where he sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and very ugly doll. At last he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on Neville in an expression of watery adoration.

"Your master must be really bad then Dobby." said Neville, trying to cheer him up. Suddenly, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"

"Don't — what are you doing?" Neville hissed, springing up and pulling Dobby back onto the bed — Hedwig had woken up with a particularly loud screech and was beating her wings wildly against the bars of her cage.

"Dobby had to punish himself, sir," said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, sir…Dobby must punish himself most grievously for coming to see you, sir. Dobby should shut his ears in the oven door for this. If they ever knew, sir —"

"But won't they notice if you shut your ears in the oven door?"

"Dobby doubts it, sir. Dobby is always having to punish himself for something, sir. They lets Dobby get on with it, sir. Sometimes they reminds me to do extra punishments…Neville Longbottom is humble and modest," said Dobby reverently, his orb-like eyes aglow. "Neville Longbottom speaks not of his triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Neville Longbottom is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Neville Longbottom, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later…Neville Longbottom must not go back to Hogwarts."

There was a silence broken only by the chink of knives and forks from downstairs and the distant rumble of Frank Longbottoms voice.

"W-what?" Neville stammered. "But I've got to go back — term starts on September first."

"No, no, no," squeaked Dobby, shaking his head so hard his ears flapped. "Neville Longbottom must stay where he is safe. He is too great, too good, to lose. If Neville Longbottom goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger."

"Why?" said Neville in surprise.

"There is a plot, Neville Longbottom. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year," whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling all over. "Dobby has known it for months, sir. Neville Longbottom must not put himself in peril. He is too important, sir!"

"What terrible things?" said Neville at once. "Who's plotting them?"

Dobby made a funny choking noise and then banged his head frantically against the wall.

"All right!" cried Neville, grabbing the elf 's arm to stop him. "You can't tell me. I understand. But why are you warning me?" A sudden, unpleasant thought struck him. "Hang on — this hasn't got anything to do with You-Know-Who, has it? You could just shake or nod," he added hastily as Dobby's head tilted worryingly close to the wall again.

Slowly, Dobby shook his head.

"Not — not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir —" But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Neville a hint. Neville, however, was completely lost.

"He hasn't got a brother, has he?"

Dobby shook his head, his eyes wider than ever. "Well then, I can't think who else would have a chance of making horrible things happen at Hogwarts," said Neville. "I mean there's Dumbledore, for one thing who can save the school."

Dobby bowed his head. "Albus Dumbledore is the greatest headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, sir. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival those of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But, sir" — Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper, "There are powers Dumbledore doesn't…powers no decent wizard…"

And before Neville could stop him, Dobby bounded off the bed, seized Neville's desk lamp, and started beating himself around the head with ear-splitting yelps. A sudden silence fell downstairs. "Neville Longbottom must say he's not going back to school —"

"Dobby…please…"

"Say it, sir —"

"I can't —"

Dobby gave him a tragic look and with a crack like a whip, vanished, leaving Neville unaware that any letter that his friends had sent him during the forced grounding would not be able to be read.


	7. 07 - The New DADA Professor

_**Longbottom Manor, Chorley, Lancashire, England** _

_**17th August 1992** _

_And before Neville could stop him, Dobby bounded off the bed, seized Neville's desk lamp, and started beating himself around the head with ear-splitting yelps. A sudden silence fell downstairs. "Neville Longbottom must say he's not going back to school —"_

" _Dobby…please…"_

" _Say it, sir —"_

" _I can't —"_

_Dobby gave him a tragic look and with a crack like a whip, vanished, leaving Neville unaware that any letter that his friends had sent him during the forced grounding would not be able to be read._

Neville woke up, remembering the visit that he had the previous night from the House Elf that named itself Dobby and was annoyed. ' _Because of that annoying elf, I got into trouble with my father.'_

Neville got himself dressed quickly as his father was expecting a visitor, a family friend who has just come from the job interview with Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Looking at his owl, Hedwig, the snowy owl with he had managed to buy from Eeylops Owl Emporium, a shop which sells owls and supplies such as owl treats and cages, right under the nose of Adam Potter, who had just about to approach the owl when Neville said to Frank Longbottom that he would buy it, Neville knew that he was only allowed to release him to hunt once a day, and that the hunt would be monitored by a tracking charm that had been cast by Alice Longbottom.

Suddenly the doorbell rang and Neville rushed down the stairs to the drawing room where he knew that his father's visitor would go to, upon the instructions that his father has given his family's House Elf, Suki, to give to the family friend who is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor.

As Neville arrived in the drawing room, he instantly recognised the gentleman that was talking to his father, a gentleman whose books were on his second-year Hogwarts School list…

…Gilderoy Lockhart

Neville knew that Lockhart was the author of the hit book Wanderings with Werewolves. It was then that never remembered that his father's friend was going to, last year, spend a year camped out in the Far East, studying the yeti, for his new book, Year with the Yeti.

"Mr Lockhart." Neville greeted, shaking the hand of the famous author. "It is an honour to be visiting out humble abode. Did you have a good year?"

"Ah, young Neville." Lockhart said, flashing a smile which made him five-time winner of Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award. "Wonderful to see you. Yes, the Yeti was a truly inspirational sight. Pity that when I got back and got the book published, I had to do a signing which resulted in a round of Muggle Duelling between Lucius Malfoy and Arthur Weasley. It was only thanks to good old Hagrid that the two stopped fighting."

Neville had to laugh over the fight between the father of his friend, Ron Weasley and the father of Draco Malfoy, one of the people who had made his life as a first year, the other two being Adam and Harry Potter, and their sycophants within Slytherin and the other two houses, mainly as the older students has no respect for him as the Boy-Who-Lived, the one who defeated Voldemort as a baby.

Neville had suspected that it was Adam Potter who had stolen his invisibility cloak, the one that he been given as a gift anyway at Christmas by his father and Professor Dumbledore, but no matter how hard you try to prove the fact that the young Potter male stole his cloak, his Head of House, Minerva McGonagall refused to investigate the claims.

Thinking about it, Neville remembered the smug face that Adam gave him the following day when he had woken up and it was that that caused the suspicion of the Potter child stealing his clothes. Being drawn back into the conversation, however, level heard his father demanding that Suki brought in some light refreshments as he knew that the family meeting with his new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor would take a short while, especially as he knew that Lockhart was going to provide for an interesting year.

Little did Neville expect to find out that the person whose books he had admired was a fraud…and that there would be an expose made by a certain pair of brothers…

**_ Platform 9 ¾, King's Cross Station, London, England _ **

**_ 1st September 1992 _ **

The Longbottoms reached King's Cross at a quarter to eleven where they bumped into Arthur Weasley and his family, who had dashed across the Euston Road, where they had parked their Ford Anglia, to get trolleys for their trunks. Eventually the two families hurried into the station, through the concourse to the area where Platform 9¾ resided.

Neville had caught the Hogwarts Express the previous year and remembered the fun that the journey had provided. The tricky part was getting onto Platform 9¾, which wasn't visible to the Muggle eye. What you had to do was walk through the solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. It didn't hurt, but it had to be done carefully so that none of the Muggles noticed you vanishing.

"Percy first," Molly Weasley, Arthur Weasley's wife said, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier. Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next; Fred and George followed.

"I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us," Mrs Weasley told Neville and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

"Let's go together, we've only got a minute," Ron said to Neville. Neville made sure that Hedwig's cage was safely wedged on top of his trunk and wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier. He felt perfectly confident; this wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as using Floo powder. Both of them bent low over the handles of their trolleys and walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, they broke into a run and —

CRASH.

As they got up they saw Adam Potter standing there, laughing at them as the Potter family walked past, managing to get through the barrier in time.

"That must have hurt their kitten pride." Harry replied to his brother as he passed through the portal. Looking at his brother's face, he broke into a run onto the train, his shiny new Prefect Badge giving him access to the Prefects Compartment at the head of the train, leaving Adam to fume over the insinuation that he had made.

Little did Harry expect to find that he would have to share a carriage with the person who was eying up his betrothed all the way to Hogwarts!

-The Potters v The Longbottoms-

As Ron and Neville started to panic as their second attempt to get through the barrier, getting a scolding from the Senior Conductor of a nearby train about their behaviour, Ron had the brightest idea of his life, one which would get him and Neville a month's worth of detentions…along with a charge by the Department of Magical Law Enforcement for breaching the Statue of Secrecy.

"We can fly the car to Hogwarts!"

"But I thought —"

"We're stuck, right? And we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards can use magic if it's a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of Thingy —"

"But your mum and dad…" said Neville, pushing against the barrier again in the vain hope that it would give way. "How will they get home?"

"They don't need the car!" said Ron impatiently. "They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because we're all underage and we're not allowed to Apparate yet…"

Neville's feeling of panic turned suddenly to excitement. "Can you fly it?"

"No problem," said Ron, wheeling his trolley around to face the exit. "C'mon, let's go. If we hurry, we'll be able to follow the Hogwarts Express…"

As Ron and Neville marched off through the crowd of curious Muggles, out of the station and back onto the side road where the old Ford Anglia was parked. Ron unlocked the cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his wand. They heaved their luggage back in, put Hedwig on the back seat, and got into the front.

"Check that no one's watching," said Ron, starting the ignition with another tap of his wand. Neville stuck his head out of the window, Traffic was rumbling along the main road ahead, but their street was empty.

"Okay," he said.

Ron pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car around them vanished — and so did they. Neville could feel the seat vibrating beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees and his glasses on his nose, but for all he could see, he had become a pair of eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of parked cars.

"Let's go," said Ron's voice from his right.

As the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away, dropping out of sight as the car rose; in seconds, the whole of London lay, smoky and glittering, below them. Suddenly there was a popping noise and the car, Neville, and Ron reappeared.

"Uh-oh," said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. "It's faulty!" Both of them pummelled it. The car vanished. Then it flickered back again.

"Hold on!" Ron yelled, and he slammed his foot on the accelerator; they shot straight into the low, woolly clouds and everything turned dull and foggy, headed straight to Hogwarts, and Professor Snape.


	8. 08 - Annoying Gryffindors

_Previously on The Potters v The Longbottoms..._

_Ron pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car around them vanished — and so did they. Neville could feel the seat vibrating beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees and his glasses on his nose, but for all he could see, he had become a pair of eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of parked cars._

" _Let's go," said Ron's voice from his right._

_As the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away, dropping out of sight as the car rose; in seconds, the whole of London lay, smoky and glittering, below them. Suddenly there was a popping noise and the car, Neville, and Ron reappeared._

" _Uh-oh," said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. "It's faulty!" Both of them pummelled it. The car vanished. Then it flickered back again._

" _Hold on!" Ron yelled, and he slammed his foot on the accelerator; they shot straight into the low, woolly clouds and everything turned dull and foggy, headed straight to Hogwarts, and Professor Snape._

_**Gryffindor Common Room, Gryffindor Tower, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland** _

_**2** _ _**nd** _ _**September 1992** _

Neville Longbottom was annoyed. Not content with having being punished by his parents, not being allowed to go to see his friend, Ron Weasley, at The Burrow, all because he had lost his family's Invisibility Cloak, one that have been made by his ancestor, Ignotus Peverell, he had been given a terms worth of detentions by his Head of House, Professor McGonagall, for breaching the Statue of Secrecy along with Ron, by flying in the plain sight of Muggles an enchanted car owned by Arthur Weasley, Ron's father.

It was only the intervention of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, who was friends with Neville's father, that meant that the two of them avoided scrubbing cauldrons for the schools Potions Master, Professor Snape. Instead the two of them were sentenced to helping the new Professor deal with his fan mail, mail sent by the likes of Molly Weasley!

Ron had groaned when the Professor told him what he would be doing, but Neville knew that they had gotten off lightly, as scrubbing cauldrons, or worse being made to clean the trophy room without the use of magic by the caretaker Mr Filch would be much more tortuous, especially with the caretakers cat, Mrs Morris, following then to ensure that they would do their duty.

What annoyed Neville the most was that, despite his protests to Professor McGonagall about it, nobody had come forward before the end of the previous term an admitted to him that they had stolen his, albeit technically prohibited under Educational Decree Number 12, Invisibility Cloak.

He had one suspect, the person who he knew could have done it, his cousin, Adam Potter. The only problem with his accusation was that a search had been done by the Headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore, Professor Snape, acting in the post of an impartial third party and Head of Gryffindor, Professor McGonagall, nothing had come up in the young Gryffindor's trunk, the only items apart from clothes and school items were a few prank items which had been purchased from the joke shop Zonko's by Adam's older brother, no Invisiblity Cloak had been found.

Even worse for Neville, in his mind, was the fact that despite inheriting his eyesight from his grandmother, Augusta Longbottom (nee Potter), he had tried on several occasions to get his father to allow him to purchase the new Muggle removable contact lenses as opposed to the glasses that he had to wear, a request that had been refused on each occasion due to how Frank Longbottom refused to break tradition by going to the Muggle world.

It was because of this that he was jealous of his cousins, Adam and Harry, because their father allows them to have contacts instead of glasses and that his other cousin, who he had seen whilst shopping in Diagon Alley, Rose Potter, didn't need glasses at all!

As he walked out of the common room, he bumped into the two people that he had wanted to see the least…the two Slytherin Fifth year prefects, Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass.

-The Potters v The Longbottoms-

Harry Potter was in a good mood this morning, a very good mood in fact. The reason for his good mood was simple, his betrothed, Daphne Greengrass, had given him a special wakeup call whilst in the private bedrooms that the Prefects in Slytherin were entitled to.

Ever since he and Daphne had started being an item, since the betrothal in 1987 that had been signed between James Potter and Cygnus Greengrass, the two of them had managed to get blackmail material on virtually every member of Slytherin house.

Some of the blackmail was minor, but on the other hand, some of it was extremely important, especially as it would give them some potential contacts in the future, contacts that they would have used to manipulate once they had reached the Wizengamot once they were of age. Most of their contacts, including people they had loads of blackmail materials, was students, or former students, who were in the years above them.

It was this blackmail material that allowed Daphne and Harry to hold a position as the people in charge of Slytherin House, leaving the prefects as a titular position only.

They were doing the morning prefect Patrol around the school, prior to the students being summoned to breakfast when they approached Gryffindor Tower. Suddenly Daphne was almost bowled over when Neville Longbottom was rushing out of the portrait.

"Well…well…well. What do we have here? Harry asked, smiling at the prey that was in front of him, prey that his partially completed Animagus form was all excited about. "A little lion cub who's about to get detention again. Didn't you almost expose our world to the Muggles Longbottom!"

"Fuck you Potter." Neville said, the taunting that, not just the two Slytherin students, but his own Housemates had made, getting on his nerves. "You better toddle on with that slapper or I'm sure our Prefects will get you back."

"You utter bastard!" Daphne shouted, kicking Neville in the genital region, annoyed at being called a slapper. "You have just earnt yourself another week of detentions, and I am sure that Professor Snape would be happy to supervise them. Also, that's twenty points from Gryffindor!"

"But…but I am the Boy-Who-Lived," Neville said, protesting. "I am the one who saved everyone from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named you dark bitch. You and your father forced the Potters to go Dark and force my father from the Great Alliance."

"That's another twenty points," Harry said, smiling. "Do you want to lose any more?"

"You should quit while you're ahead!" Neville heard from someone behind him. "I know that you are such a loser that you would lose all the points Hermione gains for Gryffindor."

Harry smiled at his brother, knowing that there was a massive power struggle in the house of the lions nowadays, with the staunchest supporters of the Longbottom camp starting a fight the previous night against the people who hated him. Suddenly the remaining Second Years, along with most of the First, Third and Forth Years came out of the Common Room and headed down to breakfast, with both Adam and Neville's hair turning red and gold.

_**The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland** _

_**2** _ _**nd** _ _**September 1992** _

Fred and George Weasley were annoyed. They had just been given a week's worth of detentions each for a prank that they hadn't even done, a prank that was, unbeknownst to them, had been pulled by Daphne Greengrass.

Suddenly they saw their family owl swoop into the Great Hall, hitting the table, slumping unconscious onto the breakfast table, his legs in the air and a damp red envelope in his beak.

"Oh, no!" they heard Ron gasp, looking at the envelope as though he had expected it to explode.

"What's the matter?" Dean Thomas, one of the Second Years who was sorted, asked.

"It's my mother…she's sent me a Howler," said Ron faintly. "I'm screwed!"

"You'd better open it, Ron," Ginny Weasley, the younger sister of Ron and the twins, said in a timid whisper. "It'll be worse if you don't. I've heard it when mom has been composing one for Fred and George and it was horrible!"

Hermione looked from their petrified faces to the red envelope. "What's a Howler?" she asked, confused. Adam motioned to tell her that he would say It when it suddenly begun to smoke at the corners.

"Open it," Neville urged. "It'll all be over in a few minutes!"

Ron stretched out a shaking hand, eased the envelope from Errol's beak, and slit it open. Neville stuffed his fingers in his ears. A split second later, Harry knew why. He thought for a moment it had exploded; a roar of sound filled the huge hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.

"RONALD WEASLEY! HOW DARE YOU GO, STEALING YOUR FATHERS CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU! YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE

"WE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND YOUNG NEVILLE COULD BOTH HAVE DIED! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED, ESPECIALLY AS YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK! IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT RONALD AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME."

A ringing silence fell. The red envelope, which had dropped from Ron's hand, burst into flames and curled into ashes. Ron sat stunned, as though a tidal wave had just passed over him.

A few people laughed and, gradually, a babble of talk broke out again. "Well, I don't know what you expected, Ron, but you-" Fay Dunbar started before Ron interrupted her

"Don't tell me I deserved it," snapped Ron. But he had no time to dwell on this; Professor McGonagall was moving along the Gryffindor table, handing out course schedules.

Adam took his and saw that they had double Herbology with the Hufflepuff Second Years first, a subject he knew that would be the best chance on them gaining some points to help their efforts, and to put them in the lead for the House Cup, a competition which had been won by the Slytherins last year!

_**The Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Scotland** _

_**5** _ _**th** _ _**September 1992** _

Professor McGonagall's classes were always hard work, especially using your late grandmother's wand to cast spells. but today was especially difficult for Neville Longbottom. Everything Neville had learned last year seemed to have leaked out of his head during the summer, all because of the grounding that he had, and the forced study in Defence Against the Dark Arts that his father had made him do.

He was supposed to be turning a beetle into a button, but all he managed to do was give his beetle a lot of exercise as it scuttled over the desktop avoiding his wand, causing Adam Potter, the person who he hated the most, to laugh at him.

His friend, Ron was having far worse problems, mainly as he had patched up his wand with some Spellotape that he had acquired, or stole from the trunk of Seamus Finnegan, but it seemed to be damaged beyond repair. The wand just kept crackling and sparking at odd moments, and every time Ron tried to transfigure his beetle it engulfed him in thick grey smoke that smelled of rotten eggs.

Unable to see what he was doing, Ron accidentally squashed his beetle with his elbow and had to ask for a new one, resulting in an extremely displeased Professor McGonagall.

Neville was relieved to hear the lunch bell. His brain felt like a wrung sponge. Everyone filed out of the classroom except him and Ron, who was whacking his wand furiously on the desk.

"Stupid…useless…thing…"

"Write home for another one," Neville suggested as the wand let off a volley of bangs like a firecracker.

"Oh, yeah, and get another Howler back," said Ron, stuffing the now hissing wand into his bag. "'It's your own fault your wand got snapped-'"

They went down to lunch, where Ron's mood was not improved by Hermione's showing the entire Second Year the handful of perfect coat buttons she had produced in Transfiguration, the smile of Adam Potter growing in admiration over the girl who he had a crush on.

-The Potters v The Longbottoms-

"What've we got this afternoon?" Adam said to Hermione, sitting next to her at the Slytherin Table next to his brother, knowing that nobody would annoy them.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts," said Hermione at once.

"Bloody Flophart. He has more plot holes in his book than that Tom Clancy novel, The Sum of All Fears." Daphne said, shocking Hermione with her knowledge of Muggle books. "What? Harry brought it for me during the holidays!"

Suddenly she saw Lockhart head over to the Gryffindor table where Draco Malfoy, one of the Slytherin Second Years was taunting Neville over his fame, saying that he would sign photographs of himself, following an envious fan, a First-Year Gryffindor named Colin Creevey, getting up in front of Neville and Ron Weasley in envy.

Hermione had to sigh in disgust over the turquoise robes that Lockhart was wearing had been swirling behind him.

"Who's giving out signed photos?" everyone heard Lockhart ask Neville, knowing that he would do anything to get in a photograph opportunity.

Adam had to laugh as Neville started to speak but was cut short as Lockhart flung an arm around his shoulders and thundered jovially, "Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Neville!"

Laughing as Neville was pinned to Lockhart's side and burning with humiliation, Adam and Hermione saw Malfoy slide smirking back into the crowd.

"Come on then, Mr. Creevey," said Lockhart, beaming at Colin. "A double portrait, can't do better than that, and we'll both sign it for you."

Colin fumbled for his camera and took the picture as the bell rang behind them, signalling the start of afternoon classes.

"Off you go, move along there," Lockhart called to the crowd, and he set off back to the castle with Neville, who was smiling in the fame that he had, especially being in a photograph with his father's friend.


End file.
